A-Z

ZPosted by Eddy Rhead Fri, April 27, 2012 16:42:01Struggling to find a building connected with the letter Z so have chosen the story of the establishment of the State of Israel where Manchester, as with many world events, played a central role.

Chaim Weizmann was the first President of Israel and one of the leaders of the Zionist movement that pushed, in the first part of the 20th century, for the establishment, in Palestine, of a Jewish homeland.

It was during his time at Manchester University, where he lectured in Chemistry, that Weizmann developed a formula for producing acetone. Acetone was a vital component in high explosives and during the First World War Britain's was effort was close to total collapse as it could not produce enough shells to fight the relentless campaign in France and Belgium.

Weizmann was willing to share his acetone production research under the proviso that the British, who controlled Palestine at the time, would work to establish a Jewish homeland - now known as Israel.

Weizmann got his wish and his efforts were rewarded in 1949 when he became the first President of the newly formed state of Israel.

The establishment of Israel, and the resulting unrest its formation would cause, has done much to shape modern world history and its formation and roots can be directly linked to a chemist who worked and lived in Manchester.